Community, Creativity and Contemplation

Danbury Public Library to Offer Tibetan Coloring on Saturday Mornings

I always enjoy traveling back to my native California to see all the trends that will hit the East Coast soon-enough. The Green Grunion, Craft Beers, the Yoga for Everyone Movement, Raw food families, Fairfield County homeschoolers now embracing unschooling, Western Connecticut State University's Blue Mountain Gallery of Art. I love West Conn; it reminds me of what was best about UC Berkeley, a community aligned in compassion, working towards a "beloved community."

Sometimes I feel like I am more in Berkeley in the 90's here in Danbury, CT than when I was in Berkeley in the 90's.

I love bringing or sharing the best trends I participated in or watched--there--here. One great trend is the concept of "community coloring" or "community crafting."

Writing in her beautiful palm-size book, Crafting Calm: Projects and Practices for Creativity and Contemplation, Maggie Oman Shannon lifts the practice of crafting to the level of a "holy offering." She articulates the concept of "crafting for connection with others." She quotes Susan Lydon, "The purpose of the craft is not so much to make beautiful things as it is to become beautiful inside while you are making those things. The finest examples of craftsmanship that come down to us through the ages exalt the human spirit. They belong to us. They show what we are capable of and what we deserve."

To this end, The Danbury Public Library has long hosted several craft and artists groups. The Library offers a highly attended Knit and Knosh Group; Holiday Craft Fairs; the Happily Hooked on Crochet Club; Art Studio for Kids on Friday afternoons; a plethora of Teen craft programs; and librarian-lead craft projects. All of this is done with one intention in mind: to help citizens of Danbury to "find their beauty inside," to be connected to a larger community of meaning and purpose.

Adding to this menu of activities is our latest workshop: Tibetan Coloring: What is it?

This workshop will start May 26th and run for 3-weeks. The class is best suited for adults, is free and open to the public. It runs on Saturdays from 10 AM to 11 AM.

To register email Ms. Jodi Weisz at: jweisz@danburylibrary.org or call her at: (203) 797-4505 ext. 7728.

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Jodi L. Weisz, MLIS is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a permanent member of the International Society for Librarians. She was the Henry Toops Scholar at the University of California at Berkeley.